Realistic modellization for the growth of a yeast colony

Abstract

An evolving yeast colony is simulated by means of a cellular automaton that takes care of many important features of the system under study. A complete survey of the properties of the colony is done and a set of scaling relations is found, together with the analysis of the critical exponents. The Family-Vicsek relation between them is verified to a good accuracy. A mobility parameter is introduced in order to relate the behaviour of the growth exponent with the temperature and we propose that the brownian motion is a key feature to describe the bacterial and fungi growth process in diluted solutions. The chemical and geometrical correlations are found to play a relevant role in the modellization, so that the need of realism is emphasized. A new phase space built upon the relevant 'thermodinamical' variables is explored.